Stuart Krohn (born November 9, 1962) is an American former professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. At the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, he was an All-American in 1986. In

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, he played for Valley RFC for eight years, as the team won eight consecutive championships, and captained the international team at the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens and the 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Krohn was a member of the silver medal winning USA Men's Rugby Team at the 1993 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and a member of the gold medal winning team at the

1997 Maccabiah Games The 15th Maccabiah Games are remembered for being marred by a bridge collapse that killed several participants. The Maccabiah had more than 5,000 athletes from 33 countries competing in 36 sports. New sports for the Games included beach volleyba ...

Youth and college

Krohn was born in Durham, North Carolina. Krohn started playing rugby at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

, for the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

in 1980. He transferred to the

(UCSB), and played rugby there for the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I ...

. For his junior year, he went to study in France, where he played rugby, leading to a professional contract with Kronenbourg RFC in 1984. He dropped out of school to play rugby for a second year in France in 1985, for Stade Toulousain, and won the French National Rugby Championship with the team. Then he returned to UCSB and was the player-coach of the team. He was an All-American in 1986. In 1987, he graduated from UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in History.

Rugby career

He then went to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and played for the

North Shore Rugby Football Club The North Shore Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Devonport, New Zealand. The club is a member of the North Harbour Rugby Union. Until 1985, with the creation of the North Harbour union, North Shore was a member of the Auckland R ...

for two years. Krohn next went to

Durban, South Africa Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, and played for the College Rovers professional rugby club for two years. Krohn went to

where he was a Hong Kong international and played at forward/backrower/No. 8 for Valley RFC for eight years, as the team won eight consecutive championships. There, he captained the international team at two

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...

. He was a member of Hong Kong's Plate-winning side at the 1992 Sevens. He played on the Hong Kong 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens squad in Pool D, and the Hong Kong 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens squad in Pool D. Then, Krohn returned to the US and completed a master's degree graduate program in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

while coaching

Dartmouth Rugby The Dartmouth Rugby Football Club (or Dartmouth Rugby) is the men's college rugby team of Dartmouth College. The student-run club was founded in 1951, and competes in the Ivy Rugby Conference against its traditional Ivy League rivals. Current hea ...

there. In 1993, he began and directed a youth rugby program in

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...

, California, as part of the Inner City Education Foundation. In 1999, Krohn started coaching and playing for the Santa Monica Rugby Club. At the 1993 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Krohn was a member of the silver medal winning USA Men's Rugby Team, at the

he was a member of the gold medal winning team, and at the 2005 Maccabiah Games he was Head Coach of the silver medal winning team. He has a wife, Kazuki, and a daughter, Sakura.

Halls of fame

In 2014 Krohn was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

, and in 2015 he was inducted into the

Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) is the governing body for rugby union in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1952 and became affiliated to World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) in 1988.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' ...

’s Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the Maccabi USA Rugby Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krohn, Stuart 1962 births Living people American rugby union players Hong Kong rugby union players Hong Kong international rugby sevens players Sportspeople from Durham, North Carolina Male rugby sevens players Colorado Buffaloes athletes Dartmouth College alumni American expatriate rugby union players Stade Toulousain players Competitors at the 1993 Maccabiah Games UC Santa Barbara Gauchos athletes United States international rugby sevens players Expatriate rugby union players in Hong Kong American expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Valley RFC players Competitors at the 1997 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 2005 Maccabiah Games